While reserving its detailed judgement on the Local Government Act, the Peshawar High Court in its short order has directed the provincial government to conduct neighborhood and village council elections on party-basis declaring the local bodies’ polls which will be held on non-party basis ultra vires as they are in violation of Article 17 of the Constitution, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday pronounced a short verdict on the Local Government Act.
The judgement declared that the local government elections which will not be held on party-basis will be deemed illegal. The verdict bounds the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to conduct the LG polls on time and asks the government to direct the returning officers to receive nomination papers on party basis.
While reacting on the PHC judgement, the KP government said that the verdict will be brought forward to the provincial cabinet tomorrow (Wednesday) for the deliberation and the provincial cabinet would decide things in the light of Local Government Act, Election Commission of Pakistan and the PHC judgement.